Facts about the Environment

It’s everything around
you…

It’s everything around
you…

You can see it, feel it, hear it, touch it,
eat it and interact with it. You are surrounded by Life and Nature – you affect
it and it affects you. This is your environment.

Lately, when you hear the word
"environment", the word “problem” also comes to mind. The level of
interest people give to the environment varies. Some practice energy
conservation, some are concerned but feel that it’s too big a problem for them
to be concerned about and some don’t believe that it’s important.

We talk about “Saving the Environment” –
but the truth is we are really trying to save ourselves. The Earth has been
around for billions of years. If we damage it or hurt it in any way, it will
just cleanse and renew itself – and how the planet will do that is not going to
be healthy for the living things that thrive on it.

Here are some interesting facts about the
environment

1)
Only 3% of our planet’s water
is drinkable. 97% of it is salt water. More than half of the Earth’s fresh
water can be found frozen in the glaciers. The rest is underground.

2)
The water in our lakes, ponds,
streams, rivers, ponds and other surface water makes up 0.3% of our fresh water
resource.

3)
25% of the bottled water you
buy is really municipal tap water.

4)
There is more water vapor in
the atmosphere than all the combined rivers on the planet.

6)
More than 700 million people do
not have access to clean water and more than 2 billion have sanitation
problems.

7)
6 to 8 million people die
annually from water-borne diseases and disasters.

8)
Agriculture uses up 70% of our
global freshwater. It goes up to 90% in fast developing countries.

9)
We use 10 billion tons of water
worldwide.

10)
The Ozone Layer “Hole” which is
29 million square kilometers, is expected to be fully healed in the next 55
years. This is due to the worldwide banning of chlorofluorocarbon and hydro
fluorocarbon.